With every fast-break bucket by Jeff Teague and Devin Harris, and with even 6-10 center Al Horford engineering a few three-on-one attacks, it became painfully obvious: The Nets' transition defense wasn't cutting it. They yielded 29 points on 18 fast-break attempts, and it still remains one of their biggest flaws.

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It's something the Nets (23-16) know they have to correct -- particularly Friday night, when they face the Hawks (22-16) again, this time at Barclays Center.

"We definitely have to get back better,'' Deron Williams said after Wednesday's loss in Atlanta. " . . . They were running for easy layups, easy baskets all night. So we have to do a better job of getting back and stopping them in transition because they did a great job of pushing the ball."

The Nets have been victimized by their transition defense in each of their last four losses, most notably in the backcourt. They've been shredded by the likes of Harris, Brandon Jennings, Tony Parker and Rajon Rondo.

No doubt, it's a problem others have had as well. But as a team with high playoff expectations, they're going to have to find a way to get it done against some of those fast backcourts.